Caddy Caliper and rotor question...

[Big Blzn]

I mocked up my caddy calipers onto my rear 14 bolt disc conversion I'm doing and now have a question. Everything fit somewhat well except the calipers are in the middle of being rebuilt without any of the guts (piston) installed. What I noticed is that with the pads in the caliper and the caliper on the rotor all bolted up there is absolutley no room for the piston to be anything but totally flush with the surface of the caliper when it is installed. Are the pistons on the caddys full flush or do they stick out about 3/16" when full compressed. If so it looks like I may be focked because there is no more room from what I can see. Is there a thinner rotor I can install instead of the standard 3/4 ton front rotors I have on the hubs? Can I grind anything to give more clearance? Or maybe just wait till I rebuild them and have the calipers back together this weekend to see if I got screwed on my purchase.Thanks

 

[4X4HIGH]

On the Eldo calipers when the piston is retracted it is just about flush. On the Fleetwood and Seville the piston sticks out about 3/16". I'll bet you have Fleetwood or Seville calipers. The piston is the only difference as far as fitment.

 

[cuervo]

I thought they all had that round disc retaining wire on them. I've got a set of eldos in the shed I didn't use. I'll have to take a couple of photos of them and post them up.

 

[Big Blzn]

On the Eldo calipers when the piston is retracted it is just about flush. On the Fleetwood and Seville the piston sticks out about 3/16". I'll bet you have Fleetwood or Seville calipers. The piston is the only difference as far as fitment.

Scott, Mine bolt up to the caliper brackets that are installed on the axle. I was hoping the others wouldn't fit on our caliper brackets If I did get taken buy the seller on this do you know of any mods I can to to the piston (shaving/grinding the back end of the piston etc) No slightly thinner rotors either, huh? May sound stupid but what about using used brake pads that a re a bit thinner? Thanks
Hoby

 

[Big Blzn]

I thought they all had that round disc retaining wire on them. I've got a set of eldos in the shed I didn't use. I'll have to take a couple of photos of them and post them up.

Tim, what round disc retaining wire do you speak of??? Post a pic if you would. Would you be willing to sell your Eldos if mine don;t work out?

 

[cuervo]

Sorry, I got side tracked last night.

I am holding the retaining wire from the second brake. You can see it installed around the piston on the brake that is on the bench. I'm sure it's used to pull the pad off of the disc when not braking.

 

[4X4HIGH]

The caliper "body" or casting if you will are all the same. Like i sais the difference is the piston. There are other caddy calipers with a smaller bolt spacing that won't bolt to our brackets but the Eldo, Fleetwood, and Seville will all bolt to the bracket but only the Eldo will work with the rotors we need to use. You cannot modify the pistong because of the design, you can however buy just the Eldo piston and install it into the Fleetwood or Seville caliper BUT the last time i priced the piston alone they were close to $100.00 each.

My Eldo calipers don't have the clip and none of them i've ever seen had them either. That doesn't mean that they aren't supposed to be there but i've had no issues without them. I have seen those clips on i think both the Fleetwood and Seville but never on the Eldo.

 

[bp71k5]

I had the clips on mine, and I think it may come with the pads when you buy those.

The calipers are pretty tight on the disc, so wait and see when you get the parts back. It may fit.

 

[Big Blzn]

Thanks Scott. That actually is great info. I don't have the wire clip either but would be very helpful when installing the pads and caliper onto the rotor. Well, I may look like I got focked on the purchase. One more bit of advise needed: What is your guys opinion, that if these calipers don't work out, what should I do with them? I don't want to be a dishonost seller and try to sell them off as Eldo's as was done to me but I'll do a full rebuild since I have the parts. Where would be a good place to sell these? I paid $75 for them so it wasn't a whole lot but enough to piss me off. I still have the dudes phone number so he will ge an earful for sure.

 

[bp71k5]

Even at $100/piston that would only be $275 for a pair of eldorado calipers. I paid more.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Where did you buy the calipers from? Did you buy them from someone on e-bay? Craigslist? If you bought them off of e-bay then you might be able to get your money back since they aren't what they were supposed to be. Just a thought but you may either end up with a hard lesson learned or find someone that needs them. They will work for someone doing a rear disc conversion on a 10 or 12 bolt 6 lug axle though since those rotors are thinner and require those calipers.

 

[Big Blzn]

Where did you buy the calipers from? Did you buy them from someone on e-bay? Craigslist? If you bought them off of e-bay then you might be able to get your money back since they aren't what they were supposed to be. Just a thought but you may either end up with a hard lesson learned or find someone that needs them. They will work for someone doing a rear disc conversion on a 10 or 12 bolt 6 lug axle though since those rotors are thinner and require those calipers.

Gottem off CL from a guy who builds Rods etc. Said they were eldos and were good for 4x4 rear disc conversion for chevy etc. Let's see if they fit before I go crazy on some chump. Thanks for all the info fellas.

 

[Big Blzn]

FWIW, here is the add for the calipers I bought. Saved it to my 'puter. Any thoughts guys.

Cadillac Eldorado Rear brake calipers 1976-1978 - $75 (Highland)


Reply to: mailto:[email protected]?subject=Cadillac Eldorado Rear brake calipers 1976-1978 - $75 (Highland)[Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-04-20, 12:05PM PDT




Rear brake calipers from a 1978 Cadillac eldorado. These are the large heavy duty GM calipers used to add disc brakes to the rear of your pickup truck. Works great on chevy or ford trucks. These have the emergency brake hardware so you can have an e-brake on your truck. These are being sold as rebuildable cores and will need to be rebuilt (piece of cake, $12 in parts) $75 951-833-4064

• Location: Highland
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 1129123593

 

[cuervo]

Scott, and everyone else, do the calipers you have, have the grove in the piston like in my photo?

 

[4X4HIGH]

IIRC my pistons do have a groove for the clip, like i said there were no clips on mine but that doesn't mean they weren't there originally.

 

[cuervo]

That is strange then. One of mine has the groove and one does not but if you are running them without and it's not an issue then I wont worry about it.

I should sell these and put some money back in my pocket. I'm such a pack-rat.

 

[4X4HIGH]

I have to do the brakes on my rig here soon (already have the parts) so i'll look for the groove when i do them. FWIW the new pads don't come with any clips.

 

[cuervo]

I don't remember if they came with the pads or the calipers. I ended up just buy new TSMs because this was a DD and I didn't want to mess around on it. I think I have $600 in brakes but only $320 of that ended up on the truck. Then the new ebrake cables and I still had to fab up a bracket for those.

 

[Big Blzn]

I checked mine and they don't have the little grooves. On an earlier thread where a member posted a guy from a bronco forum doing a rebuild he seemed to have the same piston (no groove) as he said/showed how you can use channel locks to help adjust the piston in the caliper so it is orientated correctly by clamping on the outside diameter just above the rubber seal goes.

Cuervo: would you sell your calipers and if so how much?

 

[cuervo]

I checked mine and they don't have the little grooves. On an earlier thread where a member posted a guy from a bronco forum doing a rebuild he seemed to have the same piston (no groove) as he said/showed how you can use channel locks to help adjust the piston in the caliper so it is orientated correctly by clamping on the outside diameter just above the rubber seal goes.

Cuervo: would you sell your calipers and if so how much?

Sure I'd sell them. I'll drop you a PM. If we make a deal we can post it in the trade forums here and paypal it.